Post by A.J. Rohde

Five years ago, George Jaber, Caroline Kjorlien, and I were lucky enough to have a phone call w/ the great Mike Rydin, founder of HCSS, in one of those seminal moments that you dream about as an investor. Mike was planning the next phase of his life after building the greatest technology company the heavy civil infrastructure market had ever seen. What evolved from there was the chance to buy HCSS and partner with Mike's phenomenal long-term business partner, Steve McGough, to take the company to another level. From there, we embarked on a path with Bill McKinzie and Jim Hagan to embrace the best of HCSS' customer-centric culture while giving the executive team the tools and advice to innovate faster and grow faster. They were so good that they never needed much advice, and yet were open-minded when they did! Fast forward to last year. Yves Padrines and I began speaking about the prospect of combining HCSS' category leadership in the infrastructure market with The Nemetschek Group's incredible reach of its Bluebeam business and its entire Build & Construct segment (including GoCanvas and Nevaris). We then began building a deep relationship with the entire Nemetschek Group, at the supervisory board and foundation levels. This is one of the most special organizations I have ever seen in my almost ~25 years. Innovative, fast-moving, customer-obsessed, commercial, creative, loyal, long-term oriented, and fiercely protective of performance. Huge admiration for Professor Nemetschek. Entrusting one of the best companies we've ever owned to a stake in a joint venture with a German corporate partner is not a decision we take lightly, but the strength of NEM B&C and the attributes I mentioned above made it easy. We are so honored to continue this journey for years to build a network business that spans across all facets of the global construction market, from commercial to residential, and now deeper into infrastructure. These companies are just getting started, and we are totally energized as investors and partners to fulfill the mission statement everyday. Lots more to come, but this is a special moment in my career, and I'm immensely proud of our entire team for the brilliant idea to acquire HCSS, create this JV, and double-down on the future. That is true conviction. SaaS meets AI - this merger is a prime example that blending these two worlds is working! And my final plug. To all corporate and family-controlled companies with great technology assets: take a look at this JV between TB and NEM, and also our JV with Heidelberg Materials on Command Alkon. These are powerful examples of PE and corporates working together in a public-private hybrid governance structure. We love these partnerships alongside great people with great assets and the right customer-obsessed mindset. We want to do many more of these, so if you have interest, we are a phone call away. Harrison Thomas Kiely Fagan George Usman Shuja Drew Thomas https://lnkd.in/eQ_UGJBT